The Brisbane man charged with raping and fatally beating a female acquaintance in 1989 after they and a group of others smoked drugs on San Bruno Mountain pleaded not guilty to potentially capital charges.

Gabriel Ray O’Neill, 45, is charged with murder plus the special circumstances of committing murder during kidnapping, murder during sexual assault and murder during oral copulation. He is not charged with raping Sheila Lorraine Hatcher, 27, because the statute of limitations has expired.

Two hikers found Hatcher’s body March 12, 1989, in a ravine on San Bruno Mountain. She had been sexually assaulted and died from blunt force trauma. No suspect was identified at the time but, after the case was reopened in 2013, a DNA sample matched O’Neill. His genetic marker was entered into the DNA database after a 2005 conviction for felony unlawful sexual intercourse.

O’Neill was arrested in June in Brisbane.

He remains in custody without bail and returns to court Dec. 10 for a preliminary hearing.